Improvement in harvesters



j. M. KNEPLEYQ Harvester Attachment.

No. 83,975. Patented Nov. 10, 1868.

i aw 1M 7 N. PETERS, PholoUfihogx-apher. Washinglon, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB M. KNEPLEY, OF JERSEY SHORE, PENNSYLVANIA.

lM PR'OVEM ENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 83,975, dated November 10, 1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J A0013 M. KNEPLEY, of Jersey Shore, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harvesters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

My improvements relate to the manner of driving the reel in harvesters; and my in vention consists in a novel arrangement of de vices for keeping the chain taut that drives the reel, and at the same time permitting the reel to rise and fall with the movements of the platform without breaking the chain, all as hereinafter explained.

Figure l is a side elevation of a reel-post with the chain and my improvements applied, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the compensating device, shown detached.

In that class of harvesters in which the plat form is hinged so as to rise and fall independent of the body of the machine, it is customary to locate the reel upon the platform, and, as it has to be driven by a chain from the machine proper, the chain is liable to become too loose when the platform rises, and so tight as to render it liable to be broken when the platform is lowered. To remedy this difficulty, I secure the pulleys e 0, under which the chain 0 passes, to springs l and Z, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, these springs being secured at their upper end to the reel-post A by a bolt, a, as represented in Fig. 1, there being a staple, a, driven into the post a short distance below the bolt a, in such a manner as to clasp the arm I and hold it rigid at its upper end, leaving the lower end, to which the pulley e is socured, free to play back and forth.

One of the arms or sprin gs, Z, is made shorter than the other, so as to bring the pulleys in the requisite position to permit the chain to pass under them and over the pulley B on the reel-shaft above, and also around the drivingpulley D on the machine, as represented in Fig. 1, which represents the position of the parts in a rear-cut machine.

IVhen a front cut machine is used, the spring-arms l and l are reversed in position, the shorter arm, 1, being always so placed as to have the upper fold of the chain pass under the pulley attached to it.

A simple manner of constructing the springarms is to take a single straight bar of steel and bend it so as to form the arms I and l of proper length, and leaving or forming an eye to receive the bolt a, and then giving to each arm a quartertwist near their lower ends, as shown in Fig. 2. If preferred, however, each arm may be made separately, and secured by bolts or staples to the post A.

By using the two spring-arms and having each arranged to yield independently of the other, the device is capable of operating to take up at least double the amount of slack in the chain that those do which have both pulleys attached to a single spring-arm, and by this arrangement I am enabled to give movement enough to the pulleys to answer the desired purpose, and thus avoid the use of devices for adjusting the spring as generally used by others where a single spring is used. v

By actual experiment I have found this device to operate in a most perfect and satisfactory manner, and it is simple and cheap, and not liable to get out of order.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- The independent spring-arms l and I, having the pulleys 0 attached thereto, and ar ranged to operate in connection with the chain that drives the reel of a harvester, substantially as described.

JACOB M. KNEPLEY.

Witnesses O. M. LAPORTE, R. MOGOWAN. 

